Okay, so I know I should be studying for my class in regional economics or at least be doing the assignment for my accounting class, but I just don't feel like it. So, I've decided to go back to thinking about growing up in the borderland.
On superbowl sunday, most of my family came over to the house. My dad made carnitas (fried pork). The smallest kids weren't interested in the game. Actually, none of the family was really interested in the game, but just wanted an excuse to have a party. Anyways, my mom had an old loteria set that she found in the garage. She gave it to the kids to play. She put my 9 year old cousin in charge of "singing" the cards.
Loteria is kind of like Bingo except that instead of a coresponding letter and number there's a picture that you put a marker on. My family usually uses beans, but if really small children are playing we'll use bottle caps or slips of colored paper.
I was thinking about how politically incorrect this game might seem to someone who didn't grow up playing the game. Some of the pictures are benign like:
Loteria also has
fruit,
trees,
and other random objects
Once you get past all the boring stuff, you make it to the really juicy part. Every "classic" loteria has to have the following cards:
La sirena - the (topless) mermaid:
El borracho- the drunkard:
El Negrito- The little black man:
and El Apache
My friend and I were looking at the cards that night. We couldn't help but think that if we lived anywhere else in the US this game we wouldn't have played this at school carnivals. Someone who isn't familiar with Mexican culture is likely to be offended. Naked ladies, little black men and half dressed amerindians. hmmmm. If someone presented a game like that to me I'd probably be weirded out too. It's not just the cards themselves that could be offensive, but the person reading them off usually has a little saying about each one.
For example, a common one you'd hear at a church fair would be " El negrito: el que se comio el azucar." In English, it sounds positively frightening " The little black man: the one who ate the sugar"
Another strange one, " El Apache: Ay Chihuahua! cuanto apache con pantalon y huarache." Ay Chihuahua is a common exclamation like saying Oh Dear or Oh My God. "El Apache: Ay Chihuahua! How many apaches with pants and sandals."
Then we move on to the real fun. You can never really escape death in Mexico. You're exposed to it at a young age. It becomes part of your daily life. Loteria has at least 4 death related cards.
El Diabilito- The little devil-- Portate bien cuatito, si no te lleva el coloradito.
(Be good little friend or else you'll be taken by the little red one)
La mano- The (disembodied) hand-- La mano de un criminal
(The hand of a criminal)
La Calavera- The Skull (and cross bones usually)-- Al pasar por el panteon, me encontre un calaveron
(While walking by the cemetery, I found a big skull)
And last but not least
La Muerte- Death-- Aquí viene la señora muerte, la tilica y flaca
(Here comes madame death, the (i'm not sure how to translte tilica) and skinny)
I loved playing loteria during Kermesses or family functions as a kid. I just recently rediscovered how much fun it was. It's almost church carnival season and maybe I'll convince my friend to come with me. Maybe we'll even win a tres leches cake or a used piggy bank or some stuffed animals.
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